UTILITIES:
• Mississippi Power received an immediate 18% rate increase after it claimed it’s running out of cash and can neither borrow money nor count on its parent, Southern Company, to rescue it. (Associated Press)
• Staff at the Virginia State Corporation Commission say Dominion Virginia Power’s rates are too high and customers should get a $64 million refund. (WRIC-TV, Richmond)
SOLAR:
• The National Black Chamber of Commerce, a leading critic of efforts to expand solar energy production in Florida, is funded primarily by fossil fuel energy companies, an analysis finds. (Florida Center for Investigative Reporting blog)
• Developers of a 5 megawatt solar system in North Carolina have asked the state utility commission to enforce an alleged agreement that Dominion North Carolina Power buy the power. (Charlotte Business Journal)
WIND: A new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory finds wind is poised to become a dominant, and possibly the primary, source of electricity in the U.S. (Greentech Media)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: Led by West Virginia, 15 states asked a federal court Thursday to push back the plan’s emissions targets for power plants while they sue the government to get the regulations overturned. (The Hill)
CLIMATE: A group in Richmond, Virginia is trying to bring low-income minorities into the conversation about climate change. (WVTF Public Radio)
SECURITY: A TVA contractor was fired last year for violating a security protocol after plugging a thumb drive into a utility computer. (EnergyWire)
COAL ASH: A state-mandated notice warned some Charlotte residences of the risks of drinking tap water near Duke Energy coal ash operations. (Charlotte Business Journal)
PIPELINES: Surveyors plotting a route for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline through Virginia are met with trespassing charges by landowners. (The Roanoke Times)
COAL: Murray Energy is looking to sustain its coal mining business based primarily in Appalachia by acquiring a company in Colombia, South America. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
COMMENTARY:
• A pediatrician in Florida says the medical community needs to speak out about the health effects of a deteriorating climate. (Context Florida blog)
• Rate-freeze legislation that Dominion Virginia Power guided through passage earlier this year will pay off big for the utility. (Power for the People VA blog)